California Lovin'

I will spare you the details of our two long trips in the car going to and from California. Instead, I'll tell you about the good times. We left the Saturday before Christmas to go to Los Gatos and Steve's parent's house. We were able to relax, learn how to make the best carmels on earth, visit with friends and family, and go for nice walks in the warm weather.

On the 21st, we went to the annual Bennion (Steve's mom's family) Christmas Pageant. Tyler was a sheperd and Hannah was the baby Jesus. Can you tell Tyler was ready to go home and sleep?

A few days later we went to Carmel and the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Tyler was in heaven. He would have stayed ALL day if we let him. Thank you to Finding Nemo for educating my child. He saw the jelly fish and said, "Takin' on the jellies!" It really is a wonderful place that totally engages the kids. Tyler couldn't wait to dive his hands into the water to feel the star fish and sea weed.


Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were very relaxing. How bad could it be to stay in my pj's for the majority of the day and eat good food? Tyler enjoyed opening the presents, but his favorite cost less than $2. Go figure!

We really did have a wonderful time. Thank you to the Pulleys for feeding us, doing the laundry, visiting, and making this a special Christmas! While it is nice to be home, we'll gladly have the 50 degree weather of California, as opposed to the snow storm that welcomed us back to Utah!

Darlings

I cannot believe my sweet Hannah is two months old. She has changed so much in the last month. She is smiling all the time now. Tyler thinks Hannah is okay to stay since she smiles at him now. She is 11 lbs 9 oz (70% for weight) and 24 1/2 inches long (98%). She is healthy and growing strong. I just love her (especially in her Christmas dress!)

We are in California for the next week with Steve's family. Everything is so green and beautiful here. Tyler keeps telling me we are in the forest or jungle. With 60 degree weather, we almost are in the jungle compared to Utah. I just had to include Tyler's "tough guy" picture on his big wheel. Both kids are just growing up so fast!

I've smiled a lot this week

This week has been a pretty good week. Steve is almost done with finals. I was productive at home, running errands, filling out Christmas cards, working out, etc. But there were three things about this week that particularly made me smile.

1. While getting Tyler ready to go play in the snow (yet again) he looked at me and said with a straight face, "Mom, you are my best girl." It melted my heart!

2. Wrapping Christmas presents and placing them under the tree. There is just something about seeing beautifully wrapped things under the twinkling lights. It makes me want to wrap up in a warm blanket and turn off all the lights but the tree.

3. Getting my hair cut. I usually wait to spend Christmas money on getting it done. This year I decided I wanted to look good for Christmas. Why wait?


I'd love to hear what made you smile this week!

The only reason I like snow

The only reason I like snow is so that I can hear my silly boy (seen below dancing at the Festival of Trees) say "I can't get up" or "I can't move" while I put on his snow stuff. Anyone who has seen the movie A Christmas Story knows why that is funny!

Ever since Halloween Tyler has basically lived in his snow boots. If I ever tell him to go get his shoes on so we can go, he comes down wearing his boots. Well, even though I really don't like the snow, I'm actually quite happy that Tyler can finally put his favorite shoes to use. He stayed outside for almost an hour this morning, and would have stayed longer but I didn't want him to freeze. He assured me he'd go back out after lunch. I'll gladly take the snow since it makes my little boy so happy!

My kind of weekend

First off, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. It was great just to lounge around with family, eat good food, play Rock Band, watch movies (I think I'm Team Jacob now!) and the list goes on.

The highlight of the weekend was blessing Hannah on Sunday. Of course I think she always looks cute, but she truly looked like an angel in her white blessing dress. Hannah had all of her grandparents there and a lot of her cousins. Thank you everyone who came. Family is what life is all about!


And to finish a wonderful Sunday, we decorated our house for Christmas. Hannah slept through it all, but Tyler sure had fun! We would hand him an ornament tell him to put it on the tree. He would walk around the three saying "hmmmm," then place the ornament on the tree and say "that is the perfect spot!" After it was all decorated he said "it's beautiful!" Good job on the tree buddy.


And this is usually how Hannah wakes up in the morning. She wasn't asleep, but wasn't quite awake either. Her smile makes me smile!